Webinar: Taking Proper Care of Pedestrians in Work Zones
September 30, 2009, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
The MUTCD requires that work zone traffic control meet the needs of all road users on a facility, including pedestrians. Register now to listen in on this important webinar on how to meet the work zone traffic control needs of pedestrians, including those with disabilities.
Presenters:
Gerald Ullman, Texas Transportation Institute: Designing and Maintaining a Pedestrian-Friendly Work Zone
Brooke Ullman, Texas Transportation Institute: Assisting Handicapped Pedestrians through Work Zones: Meeting the ADA Requirements
Cost: Free
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VOTE FOR NORTH BALT BIKE BLOG FOR MOBBIES!
Bike blogs are cool so please take a moment to vote for our friends over at North Baltimore Bike Brigade.
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Cars, Air Pollution and Health
Update Oct. 2009: Driving a car is the most polluting act an average citizen commits.
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Cars have two opposite personalities. One is friendly and attractive the other is destructive and can be lethal.
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Emissions from passenger vehicles increased in Canada and the US despite attempts to make engines more fuel efficient and despite the addition of antipollution devices. The two main reasons were: 1. vehicle use increased 2. in the US and Canada, cars were getting bigger; pick-up trucks, vans and sports vehicles often replaced smaller, lighter passenger cars. An average new vehicle in 2003 consumed more fuel that its counterpart in 1988. In the USA in 1987 cars averaged 25.9 miles to the gallon. Fuel efficiency dropped to 24.6 miles/gallon by 1998 and is dropped further as larger vehicles replace smaller ones.
Despite scientific evidence of climate change, governments in most affluent countries have avoided their responsibility to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The USA is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide. US emissions have increased to 7 billion tones of CO2 in 2004, 16 % higher than emissions in the late 90’s. The UK has done better reducing their emissions to about 0.6 billion tons, 14% below 1990 levels.
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Advertising and Delusions
Television Ads for sports and recreation vehicles show solitary, impeccable machines in wilderness locations. One TV ad shows a couple making a mad dash to escape the city core in their expensive, luxury upholstered clone of the land-rover. The ads are selling a fantasy of wilderness, fresh air and escape. Is the consumer is completely deluded? These vehicles are mostly found in suburban driveways and in the traffic jams of polluted cities. They have nowhere to go to escape the environmental degradation they help to create. 4×4 drives and large tires are rarely useful in cities and are not suited to highway driving. You see these machines, submerged in suburban driveways by the floods they helped to create
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REINVENTING AMERICA A Free-Wheeling City
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Until recently, Columbia (pop. 100,733) was, like most American cities, designed almost exclusively for automobile transit, offering up a host of four-lane mini-highways over which motorists could zoom between parking lots. For Hindman, a retired lawyer, the situation was all wrong. “If we depend too much on cars, then we increase our reliance on foreign oil, childhood obesity goes up, and life just isn’t as much fun,” he says.
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Dog Rides Tandem Bike
Comments on Bicyclist Ticketed for Going through Red Light
I support the police officer who ticketed the bicyclist for going through a red light on University Pkwy. Bicyclists have both the rights and DUTIES of a motor vehicle driver. If motorists and bicyclists choose which laws to obey and which ones to disobey; travelling by bike, foot, or car becomes more dangerous.
I disagree with the cyclist who compares cycling to jogging and feels that by keeping far right cyclists earn special proviledges, like being allowed to run red lights. Cyclists are vehicles , though pedestrians should also wait for the green light to cross. In addition, one should only ride as far right as safe and reasonable. Riding too far right can increase the chance of a right turning motorist cutting you off, as was the case in the fatal accident of John Yates, who was killed by a right turning truck on Md Ave at Lafayette. His riding next to the curb on SB Md Ave left him no room for escape.
Finally, if you are wrong then you should admit it and listen to the officer’s constructive criticism. The officer is just doing his job. The police take a lot of abuse and deserve respect. If the officer is wrong (e.g. – ordering you to ride in a right turn only lane when going straight), then you have a right to politely stand up for your rights, even if it means a ticket. In this case, the officer was correct.. Now, if the officer will follow through by stopping motorists who pass cyclists too closely or fail to yield, then the police will be helping to make cycling safer.
ticketed while riding
I was ticketed earlier in this afternoon for running a red light on my bike in Charles Village.
British kids would rather cycle
By Jonathon Harker Sep 22 2009, 10:08am
Halfords sees 22 per cent year-on-year rise in children’s bike sales; Chain launches kid’s-specific website
A Halfords-commissioned survey has found that almost three quarters (74 per cent) of British kids would like to cycle more with their families, despite 84 per cent of children spending most family time watching TV.
The TNS-conducted survey comes after the national retailer has announced a 22 per cent increase in the sales of children’s bikes over Christmas, compared year-on-year with 2007.
The report also found that almost all (95 per cent) of the children surveyed would rather be more fit and healthy, but do not exercise with their family as much as they would like to.
Cycling was the preferred means of keeping fit amongst the children, with 74 per cent preferring cycling over walking, running or playing team games.
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The ultimate accessory for the geek
in 1983, Steve Roberts packed up a Tandy 100 laptop and a 5-watt solar panel, fleeing suburbia on his recumbent bicycle on what would become a 17,000 mile journey that forever cemented his place in the geek pantheon…not just as a technology hacker, but as one of the preeminent “life hackers,” pursuing his own dreams on his own terms and inspiring others to do the same.
In this recently-unearthed video from 1989, Roberts reflects on the first 16,000 miles of his voyage, detailing some of the technology that went into his then-current ride, the Winnebiko II.